Gristworkz offers a wide variety of beer styles ranging from classic IPAs and stouts to experimental brews like the Mango Guava blonde ale they names “Hot Boi Summer”. Some of their most popular beers are Lightwerk Kolsch as well as the Hardy Hop – a Citra and Mosaic hopped IPA named after the historical Hardy Yards. A harder to find style, Cold Forge is their Baltic Porter which comes in at 7.8% ABV. Gristworkz features more than just the beers brewed in house. They offer guest taps such as Weihenstephan Vitus – a Weizenbock brewed from one of the oldest German breweries in the world.

“Brewing an authentic German Hefeweizen with traditional techniques requires specialized equipment that few breweries are set up for, us included. That and they have about one thousand years of brewing expertise.” says co-owner Dave Sorrell.

Their drink selection extends to include cider from the local City Orchard and a curated list of wines from Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc to Prosecco and Rose. However, their liquor and cocktail program sets them apart from most bars, let alone breweries.

            “We select spirits that are 100 percent additive free – such as avoiding caramel coloring in bourbons and cognacs… In tequilas we look for 100% agave and avoid artificial flavorings.” says lead bartender Saul Hernandez

All the bartenders are trained in making classic cocktails such as Margaritas, Old Fashioneds, Lemon Drops, Whiskey Sours, Moscow Mules, and Daiquiris. Their top seller is the super instagramable Paloma, with its distinctive grapefruit wheels garnish. They squeeze the juices fresh daily and cut garnishes just as frequently.

Gristworkz doesn’t stop at just serving great drinks, they are dedicated to promoting diversity and equality for all of Houston. When you visit, you can feel confident knowing that you’re supporting a business that values inclusivity and works to make a positive impact in the community.  

         “When I think of Houston, I think of its diversity and how we can best serve it. To us, it’s always been important to cater to more than just the craft beer drinker. We want groups of friends from all walks of life to be able to hang out here.” says co-owner Jorge Benitez. “For instance, take a look at our food menu – it offers more than what you are used to seeing for bar food. We think of food as an opportunity for connection and inclusion.”

Their menu has a wide variety of classic foods such as burgers, pizzas, and fries while also offering regional favorites like the 1/2 lb of barbacoa or carnitas available on the weekends only. Want to mix it up? Get the yuca fries instead of French fries or try the Red Beans and Rice instead. It’s spicy! Their food specials are available daily for those looking for a deal. For $15, you can get a beer, a burrito and a shot of bourbon – all day, every day. Check out their website gristworkz.com to see all of their weekly specials.

Gristworkz team is a combination of extensive hospitality experience all under one roof. Their team includes owners and bartenders with management experience from breweries Saint Arnold and Holler as well as former GMs of bars such as Pastry War, Johnny’s Gold Brick, Hollman Draft Hall, and Heights Beer Garden. They use their wealth of knowledge in their everyday approach to hospitality.

When you visit Gristworkz, you’re not just there for the beer, you’re there for the complete experience. With its commitment to quality ingredients, unique flavors, welcoming atmosphere, and dedication to promoting inclusivity and equality, Gristworkz has earned its reputation as one of the top beer destinations in Houston, TX. So if you’re in the area, be sure to add Gristworkz to your list of must-visit breweries.

Guest Contributor: Marcus Cain

The post Beer, Cocktails, and Cuisine: A Complete Guide to Gristworkz Brewery first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post Beer, Cocktails, and Cuisine: A Complete Guide to Gristworkz Brewery appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.

Houston’s breweries are as widespread as it’s never-ending freeway system but there are a few spots in town where you can easily do a traditional “bar-hop” between breweries!  One of our favorite brewery-hops, not only because we live down the street, is in the East End (for these purposes using this term to encompass Second Ward and Eado together).

Stop one:  8^th Wonder. 

One of Houston’s more iconic breweries in terms of amazing venue and good brews, 8^th Wonder Brewery makes a perfect starting point for an East End brewery hop.  Grab a pint glass and 3 tokens and enjoy the downtown views and retro H-town inspired art.  Recommended beer:  Rocket Fuel (Vietnamese Coffee Porter) or Premium Goods (Belgian Dubbel).

Stop two:  True Anomaly. 

Inspired by NASA and Space, True Anomaly Brewing is located walking distance from 8^th Wonder and has some of the best beer in town.  Specializing in Sours and Wild ales, Old World styles and experimental styles you can’t go wrong with anything on the tap list.  Recommended beer:  tap list changes, but if they have the Sixteen Sunsets Belgian Tripel grab yourself a bottle and savor the spicy hoppy deliciousness.  If you want something lighter any of their lagers are great, look for the Scout Mexican Style especially.

Stop three:  Equal Parts. 

Formerly known as Sigma, Equal Parts Brewing continues to impress in the Second Ward.  They recently reopened their expanded and completely redesigned taproom complete with a slow pour tap.  Nothing on tap disappoints and the range of styles is great.  From fruited sours to extreme triple IPAs you’ll find something you like.  Recommended beers:  Loggerbier German Pilsner (try it on the slow tap!) and anything in the Exotica series (beers designed to mimic cocktails, from Mai Tai to the Navy Grog).

Bonus stop:  Moon Tower Inn. 

After all that beer, stop by Moon Tower Inn for more beer but also for a meal!  Moon Tower has their own beer as well as a huge tap list of craft beer options, but the star is the food:  try one of their wild game wieners with chef choice toppings.  Phenomenal!

Now that is what I call a great day of brewery hopping. 

Cheers!

#HoustonBeerMonth Guest Submission from Cole Wehner 

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The post Brewery Hopping in Houston’s East End first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

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When reviewing beers, it can sometimes be difficult to separate the experience from the beer.  Sometimes in the right surrounding a beer you once passed on could be short lived favorite.  Lake Houston Brewery located in Huffman Texas eliminates all the negative with solid beers and an outdoor setup made for the weekend. You would have a hard time not enjoying yourself.

First the beer. I fell for a West Coast IPA they call “LFG”. As much as I love hazy IPAs, it’s always a treat to have what now seems like an original. This balanced hop-forward classic will get you feeling it with it’s strong citrus notes from beginning to end proving why it will be a mainstay in the taproom.

The brewery itself is what really got my attention.  Formally a restaurant known as The Cedar they have a large indoor area that is nothing in comparison to what you will see outside. The elevated stage for live music is positioned towards the brewery and allows beer enthusiasts to enjoy a perfect view of Lake Houston. After visiting most every brewery in the region, I always admired groups that were able to visit a brewery via bicycle.  Cycling has never been my forte.  Boating on the other hand is one of my favorite leisure activities. With several places to dock your boat or jet ski, visiting Lake Houston Brewery is a must for water enthusiasts and beer enthusiasts alike.  

Cheers!

#HoustonBeerMonth Guest Submission from Jason Ducey

Interested in sharing your story? Be a guest contributor this month! Email us at cheers@houstonbeerguide.com

The post Waterfront beer experience at Lake Houston Brewery first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

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I have been meaning to write about Urban South HTX for a while now, and finally had the chance to go and do just that. Anyone who knows the pedigree of their brew staff knows to expect hazy IPAs, fruity sours, and big stouts. Judging by the glassware I saw while I was there, the fruited sours were the most popular. The only full size pour I saw of anything else was the pilsner I started with. To that point though, at least half of their menu was different fruited sours, each with different themes, from tiki drink inspired, to soda inspired, to the one I tried, a PB and J sandwich inspired one. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

I started with one of their two slow pours, their Oak Aged Timepiece, a tasty helles whose un-oaked version I have had many times. One of my favorite things happening in the Houston beer scene right now is the prevalence of slow pour lagers, which deserves its own post, but this one was great. It had a soft mouthfeel with a slightly sweet malty body. There was a slight lingering bitterness from the hops at first that transformed into candy strawberry as the beer warmed up. I would have been happy just having a couple of these, but I needed to try some other beers as well.

Next up I was going to move to some heavy hitters so I went with a flight. I started with the aforementioned fruited sour. This was in their Spilled Series, and was the grape, strawberry, masthmellow, and peanut butter version. It drank with the mouthfeel of a smoothie, coating my mouth with fruity sweetness. This was very jammy fruit forward with the peanut butter and marshmallow complex sugars on the aftertaste. My biggest complaint with these styles of beer usually is that it loses anything that resembles beer. This one still had that slight sour beer flavor on the end that worked to cut through all the sweetness from the rest of the ingredients, and was much more enjoyable than I was expecting.

I then moved to IPAs, Getting a single, a double, and a triple. The single IPA I got was I Want to Ride My Bicycle. I mainly got it because of the name, but also because it was described as an American IPA vs NEIPA. It came hazier than I was expecting, it is the far right one in the picture above. The aroma was all grapefruit which carried over to the flavor, along with hints of guava. There was a slight bitterness that accompanied a very nice mouthfeel, somewhere in between a west coast IPA and a NEIPA. This was followed by the DIPA, Combo Plate #11. I was slightly disappointed with this one. While I could tell it was slightly older, it was still enjoyable. After that grapefruit bomb I just had though, it felt a little lacking. If I just had a glass of it by itself, it would have been great. I finished my flight with Chromatic, a 10.4% Triple IPA. This beer was the dankest beer I have ever had. The smell was all dank passionfruit that carried over to the super creamy mouthfeel. If you had told me it was 7% abv, I would have believed you and could really hurt myself on this smooth drinking, super tasty beer. As it warmed up, the dank stuck around, but the passionfruit started giving way to more orange and mango. 

Next time you find yourself by Total Wine on I-10, shoot behind them and go hit up Urban South HTX. The sheer variety of what they have makes it an adventure every time, and it is always fun trying their newest flavor combinations.

Cheers, and Happy Drinking.

The post Variety is the Spice of Life at Urban South HTX first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post Variety is the Spice of Life at Urban South HTX appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.

The tap room reminds me of a mountain house, probably intentional based on the owners’ affinity for climbing mountains, specifically Colorado 14ers (more on that in a bit). The walls are scattered with skis, maps, and other outdoor-related decorations. It could be hot outside, but the taproom is cool and cozy. The taproom is flanked by two beer gardens, both equipped with picnic tables and umbrellas. This gives patrons ample options and space for their beer-drinking experience. 

Now onto the main attraction — the beer.

Walking Stick brews many IPAs, but they also offer a couple ESBs, which isn’t something that many Houston breweries are making. They also have a Porter and Stout but really seem to focus on the lighter style of beers — beers that would be refreshing to drink after climbing a mountain or two. On my visit, I had the Blanca Witbier IPA, which as you can tell from the name, is a wit / IPA hybrid, and it drank as you might expect it to drink — very hop forward with a strong banana and clove aroma and taste. 

I did take two crowlers home with me. One neat thing that Walking Stick does that I have never seen is they have crowler labels for each of their beers rather than a sticker or sharpie saying what the beer is. The San Luis Simpaticoe IPA is on the more bitter side. It’s earthy, but still very smooth and creamy. The Massive Brown Porter has a very light mouthfeel. It’s sweet, with strong caramel and chocolate notes. Overall, the beers were good. I would happily drink any of them again.

Finally, Walking Stick offers a membership into the Summit Club. A lot of breweries do this. They offer an annual membership where members get half of beer, or invites to special releases or events. However, Walking Sticks membership fee is based on how many Colorado 14ers, the 58 Colorado mountains that are over 14,000 feet, you have climbed. So if you have just climbed one 14ers, you pay $350 annually, but you get your own mug and half off beer. But if you’ve climbed 50+ peaks, your membership is only $5 a year. 

Grab your walking stick (heh), head to Colorado and climb some mountains. The beer and the taproom atmosphere are definitely worth the price of admission. 

The post Walking Stick Brewing Offers Good Brews and Great Vibes first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post Walking Stick Brewing Offers Good Brews and Great Vibes appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.

I was there with my brother, so we got to try quite a few of their different offerings. The stand outs for us were their two pilsners on tap and the English Summer Ale. I started with the Ennio Pils, an Italian-style pilsner. It was extremely light and refreshing, great for an afternoon sip. Next was the Hella Pils, what they dub as a west coast pilsner. This was one of the best american Pilsners I have ever had. Great hop character, with just enough malt to give it a little mouthfeel without it losing its light crispness you want in a pilsner. 

The final beer of the visit was the English Summer Ale, and we definitely saved the best for last (I was so excited after smelling it that I forgot to take a picture with the full glass). They offer it in two different versions, one on nitro and one on cask. For science, we got one of each. This pale English bitter was the perfect summer beer. At 5.5% ABV, it wasn’t too big to rule out multiple pints, but had enough flavor to stand up to food. It started with a cracker maltiness that was accompanied by a nice light bitterness from the english hops. Both the nitro and the cask were great, with the cask having just a hint more carbonation versus the creamier nitro. Other beers i can’t wait to try out next time I go are their collaboration with True Anomaly, a tart saison called First Bloom and their Brett Saison, Provisional. Another thing to watch out for is their Brew Club Beers, where members of the green level of their brew club get to brew a batch on their pilot system and have it on the tap wall. 

When they opened in November of 2019, I was slightly worried about their longevity. While everything I had then was good, there was nothing special about their beers to make them stand out from the rest of the Houston beer crowd. Fortunately for everyone, they have started finding their niche. With the Heights Light starting to show up on tap lists at restaurants, cans of their Dry Hopped Kolsch, Fruited Splitz, and Redwood IPA on the shelves at grocery stores around town, and their approachable tap room, they have done a great job carving out a spot for themselves, and I know they will continue to knock out great beers. If you find yourself over in their neighborhood, do yourself a favor and check them out. You can thank me later.

Cheers, and happy drinking!

The post A Hangout in the Heights first appeared on Houston Beer Guide.

The post A Hangout in the Heights appeared first on Houston Beer Guide.